Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Discuss Marketing

M. A STAFF REPORT

LARKETING was the problem uppermost in the minds of the members of t h e American Pharmaceutical Manufacturers' Association as they met at Boca Raton, Fla., for their 40th annual meeting on April 28 through 30. A panel discussion on modern pharmaceutical marketing pre­sented b y authorities in the field and t h e first presentation of the association's newly established Research Award were salient features of the meeting.

The growing magnitude of the market­ing problem t o the manufacturers of phar­maceuticals was referred to by the president of the group, James L. Rogers, Central Pharmacal Co., in his report to the associ­ation. Production is no longer the key to the solution of the pharmaceutical manu­facturers' problems, he stated. "Execu­tive management is becoming conscious that all decisions in business must be weighed in terms of effective marketing."

Research must not be neglected, he reminded his listeners, and cited the case in which 54% of a company's sales were in products not on the market ten years ago . The need for pooled or group research by small companies was also suggested a s a means of helping them to keep abreast of new developments;

President Rogers' remarks were further amplified in a paper by Martin Laser-sohn, Winthrop Chemical Co., Inc., on "Coordination of Manufacture, Sales, and Research". He pointed out the needlessly wasted research efforts due to failure to coordinate the research, sales, and pro­duction departments where much money and time had been spent developing a product which had no market, did not c o n ­form to companj' policy, or was not e c o ­nomically feasible. The solution lies in developing a well-knit organization wi th free interchange of information between department heads.

All aspects of marketing from develop­ment to advertising were covered at the panel discussion on pharmaceutical mar­keting. Roland J. Dahl, E . R. Squibb & Sons, discussed the necessity for a complete and independent department of product development whose primary objectives would be to increase the earnings of the company in addition to introducing new or improved products. Distribution prob­lems, market research, and the selection, training, and supervision of representa­tives were discussed by Joseph G. N"oh, Winthrop Chemical Co.; Harry Knox, A. C. Nielsen Co.; and Tom Jones, P a u l Klemtner & Co., respectively. Mrs. Helen Haberman of William Douglas McAdams, Inc., concluded the panel with a discussion on advertising.

The award, to be knowrn as the Annual Research Award of the American Pharma­ceutical Manufacturers' Association, was established to recognize the work of an individual investigator who during the recent past has made an outstanding and significant research contribution in the field of medicine or the medical sciences.

Indicative of the international signifi­cance which the new award is to carry was the selection of Bernardo Alberto Houssay of Buenos Aires, Argentina, as the first recipient. Dr. Houssay's most outstand­

ing accomplishments have been in the field of the pituitary gland, diabetes, and carbohydrate metabolism.

As part of the closing order of business the ΑΡΜΑ went on record as opposing the creation of a Department of Health, Edu­cation, and Security as proposed by Senate bill S.140. I t is felt that the terms of this bill would impair the efficient opera­tion of the Federal Drug Administration by placing it under the control of a doctor of medicine who would be a political ap­pointee.

James L. Rogers; Edgar L. Patch, E . L. Patch Co.; and Fred W. Misch, the Smith-Dorsey Co., were re-elected presi­dent, secretary, and treasurer, respec­tively. New vice presidents elected were Gerald Smith of Ayerst, McKenna & Har­rison and Kenneth Flint of Flint, Eaton &Co.

Georgia Dedicates Herty Memorial MEMORIAL tablet to Charles Holmes

Herty, *'Georgia scientist and educator", was recently placed in the Georgia state eapilol at Atlanta. The memorial, a bronze tablet, was unveiled by Charles H. Herty, III , 23-year-old grandson of Herty and a student of chemistry at the University of North Carolina. In presid­ing at the dedication ceremony, Governor Ellis Arnall remarked that this was prob­ably the first memorial placed in the capi-tol to honor a citizen who made his mark in some area other than the government.

The bust for the memorial was com­pleted by the Georgia sculptor, Steffen Thomas, entirely on his own initiative a year before Herty's death in 1938. Later, when t h e Georgia Assembly authorized the erection of a memorial to Herty, Thomas was selected as the artist and designed the table! t o go with the bust.

Born in 1867 at Milledgeville, Ga., where the fifteenth annual Herty D a y was recently celebrated (p. 1433), Herty taught at the universities of Georgia and North Carolina. He was editor of the Journal of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry, 1917-21, and first director of the ACS Xews Service. Later he became president of the Synthetic Organic Chemical Manu­facturers Association. He served two terms as president of the AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY, 1915-16.

Herty is renowned in the South for his contributions to turpentining (he invented a cup which bears his name) and to es­tablishing the manufacture of newsprint from southern pine. A champion of chem­ists, he fought during World War I for the establishment of an American dye indus­try and for the military recognition of chemists and chemistry.

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